Everywhere we go something or someone is trying to sell us something. Whether it is a product or an idea, we cannot avoid constantly being sold something. It makes me wonder if it’s too much. I can’t watch a 30-minute program on tv without watching at least 10 minutes of commercials. When I’m browsing the Internet, ads are all over the place—on the sides of the page, on the tops and bottoms, and even as popups. Even Super Bowl ads have become a sensation to the point where some people will watch the game just for the ads. With all these advertisements, I think we’ve become distracted from useful information that we might be trying to access. Ads will use various elements to attract attention—colors, flashy titles, or interesting pictures. While I do understand that ads are used to bring revenue, I feel that the excessive use is generally nonconstructive and hinders productivity.
I use Chrome as my main browser and have Adblock installed, which is an extension that basically blocks all the ads on any website and allows me to focus on the actual content of the site.
It’s funny that you wrote this blog post because I can totally relate to it, since my computer has recently been infected by a virus that pops up incessant, annoying ads that appear every few minutes. I have tried everything to escape from it. However, even after deleting a multitude of programs and running anti-virus software, I was still unable to uncover where the ads were coming from. Maybe I’ll give Adblock a try. Along with being extremely unnecessary, these ads (along with this virus that seems to only affect PCs) are a prime example of how technology still has room for improvement.